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Front fan spinning VERY fast
So I have an optiplex 960 and lately I dismantled all my pc and cleaned it thoroughly from the case, fans even to the front thermal sensor which is in front of the fan. The dust buildup on it was unbelievable as it wasn't cleaned for almost a decade. Now during these years I used it for gaming, not great performances but it was what it was and I was happy with it.
After mounting everything back in I noticed that for the past year ( since I changed the PSU ) I had placed it COMPLETLY wrong in the sense that I force screw it in place with some holes I made??? And the fan inside the psu on the side with the honeycomb shapes( where the air gets inside the PSU ) was placed towards the case wall this entire time, having only like 1 cm of space to breath.
After I fixed it and booted the system ( haven't had any problems even though the PSU was in the wrong direction) I noticed the front fan which is facing in the heatsink ontop of the cpu was spinning normaly getting more air intake on the case as it was never cleaner until I started doing tasks like oppening browsers, oppening game launchers and even windows folders which made it spinning so fast I swear I thought it was gonna blow up, my table started shaking slightly and I put my hand infront of the fan and it was a breeze I've never felt on fans.
I remembered the processor didn't have much thermal paste if not at all except for some small bits here and there which were almost dried up but that wouldn't make the fans spinning so much because I checked with SpeedFan and CPU temperatures were great and my fans weren't even showing on SpeedFan so I couldn't limit their speed.
I also tried moving the thermal sensor abit because maybe It wasn't detecting normal airflow but still the same problem.
If anyone could help me it would be greaat!
Changing fans or buying thermal paste is a no-no in these times of quarantine so thanks in advance for everything
bradthetechnut
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May 25th, 2020 19:00
1. I don't know if you know, thermal paste can be ordered online besides buying at a computer store. 2. I wipe down all groceries with disinfectant wipes or disinfectant sprayed on paper towel (if no wipes). I haven't caught a cold or flu in years and haven't caught Covid-19. Not meant to brag though; I have enough health problems besides.
The thermal paste you mentioned still needs replacing. Be sure to you use a small dab. Too much oozing out can fry an MB. If you don't feel comfortable ordering thermal paste, may be hold off on using the PC until you can get some?
Dell doesn't support outside fan speed controls. That being said, some users still use HWiNFO64.
LisiPllugi
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May 26th, 2020 03:00
Do you have any idea as to why its spinning so fast?
I remember once I left my processor without paste for like 2 weeks if not more and that didnt cause my fan to spin like this and my temps were a bit higher but nothing over the top or maybe its the massive ammount of dust i removed from the case and the fan, allowing it to spin more?
bradthetechnut
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May 26th, 2020 14:00
Removing dust like you did is a good thing and shouldn't cause fan to over-rev. I had it happen too one time and know what you mean.
Is the inside of the fan hub also clean? Hopefully none of the fans sensors are dirty. RPM gets reported back to MB. May be some dirt inadvertantly went there while you were cleaning?
That's what I'm almost thinking. Some dirt may inadvertantly went elsewhere. Fan connector is clean too?
bradthetechnut
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May 26th, 2020 14:00
If the exact cause were known, I or another user would've listed it already. The best we can do, without the PC being in our presence, is troubleshoot.
You mention how simple tasks rev up the fan. It's a sign of CPU heating too easily. There isn't a shortcut to having good thermal paste on CPU.
You also mentioned you check SpeedFan and temps were fine. But did you check while opening game launchers?
One thing that could help is update to the latest BIOS for your 960. BIOS controls the fans. (Sometimes, some people in the Precision forum have had to undo BIOS updates due to revving fans until revisions were made.)
Dell Optiplex 960 Drivers & Downloads
Optiplex 960 BIOS Dell Website
By the way you describe the fan and heatsink, I'm guessing you have the MT model of the 960.
bradthetechnut
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May 26th, 2020 14:00
I did some more digging.
Screengrabs will show once approved by a moderator:
bradthetechnut
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May 26th, 2020 15:00
Dell Article Troubleshooting Fan Issues
LisiPllugi
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May 27th, 2020 04:00
So thanks everyone for the replies.
Turns out either my sensors or it was bugged don't know what exactly but after updating my BIOS the speedfan was showing some serious temps. after doing tasks or oppening game clients. Temperatures which didn't show on the previous time I inspected.
I have a quad core processor and in the past few months have enabled the rest because some of them were disabled. Now I noticed the 3 others cores were having very high temps somewhere in the range of mid 50 and the first core ( or main whatever i dont know much sry) was running at somewhere 64-65 with just game clients openned and thats when the front fan was spinning like crazy so I guess it is the thermal paste.
One question still:
After applying the thermal paste would that be enough to drop the temperatures in the mid 40s range or it would drop them by just a few celsius?
bradthetechnut
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May 27th, 2020 13:00
It's still prudent you get some good thermal paste on your CPU. Bad or old thermal paste can act like a heat insulator instead.
I'm more familiar with F° than C°, so I don't know how much your temps will drop, but with good thermal paste, they will go down.
Applying Thermal Paste Videos
LisiPllugi
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May 28th, 2020 04:00
Well ty for the screenshots but after applying thermal paste on my processor I noticed I could open game launchers without my fan going crazy ( it waz doing it past +70°C ) so in the end I think its overheating problem cause while in games I noticed 92°C on one of the cores and thats why the fan was speeding so much.
bradthetechnut
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May 28th, 2020 15:00
You're welcome. Glad it worked out.
bradthetechnut
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May 28th, 2020 15:00
I'm also glad I also insisted on thermal paste. May be you could mark the last in this thread about thermal paste as a solution? Then this thread is marked as a solution also.